The Turning Point

This chapter examines the various events that undermined the public support for church–state separation in the 1960s. It considers the impact of Vatican II, of ecumenism, of the civil rights movement, and of federal social welfare and education legislation on Protestant attitudes. All of these events encouraged Protestants and Catholics to find common ground in working for the greater societal good. These events also suggested a model of church-state cooperation rather than one of separation. The chapter then segues to consider the various church–state cases before the Supreme Court between 1968 and 1975 in which the justices began to step back from applying a strict separationist approach to church–state controversies.

The 1950s: Part Two

This chapter continues with the examination of the church–state events of the 1950s. It begins with the Protestant–Catholic tensions associated with the Red Scare and the congressional investigations into communism, particularly the controversy surrounding Catholic support for the activities of Senator Joseph McCarthy. It continues with an examination of a thawing of religious tensions brought about by the religious revival of the 1950s and the growth of ecumenism and religious cooperation. This section focuses on the impact of three religious figures: Bishop Fulton Sheen, Billy Graham, and Norman Vincent Peale. The chapter concludes with an examination of the Protestant opposition to the candidacy of John F. Kennedy for U.S. president, an effort that was led by Graham, Peale, and POAU.

The School Prayer Cases

This chapter examines the background to and the holdings in the two seminal cases involving prayer and Bible reading in the public schools: Engel v. Vitale and Abington Township v. Schempp. It discusses how the justices were cognizant of the potential reaction to the holdings and sought to mollify that response by using particular language in their opinions. It then examines the public reaction to the decisions that precipitated a split among Protestants over church–state separation. Finally, the chapter considers the congressional efforts to amend the Constitution to permit prayer and Bible reading in the public schools.

The Formative Years

This chapter examines the cultural background for the Supreme Court’s decisions of the 1940s. It considers the ascendency and increasing unity of American Catholicism and the disunity among Protestantism. This Catholic unity was both organizational, in the creation of the National Catholic Welfare Conference which now spoke for the hierarchy nation-wide, and theological in the American church’s embrace of a more socially assertive Thomism. It examines the reaction of Protestants and liberal intellectuals to controversial political and social stances by the Catholic Church: movie and book censorship, and apparent support for fascist regimes in Italy and Spain. It concludes with a discussion of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s decision to appoint an emissary to the Vatican at the cusp of World War II.

Introduction

The introduction sets the stage for the book by discussing the controversy that surrounded Paul Blanshard’s 1947 and 1948 articles in The Nation, which were published in 1949 as the influential book American Freedom and Catholic Power. Blanshard’s articles, which coincided with the Supreme Court’s initial church–state decisions, represented (and exasperated) the tensions between Protestants and Catholics in the postwar period. The introduction then segues to discuss the ongoing controversy over the Court’s adoption of church–state separation as the jurisprudential norm, including the more recent charge that the justices were influenced to do so by a climate of anti-Catholicism.

The Cases

This chapter examines the background to and the Court’s decisions in the two seminal church–state cases: Everson v. Board of Education and McCollum v. Board of Education. The chapter asserts that the parties and justices concurred that separation of church and state was the operative principle, though they disagreed on its meaning and application. It also notes that the metaphor of a “wall of separation” was an afterthought in Justice Black’s opinions. The chapter then discusses the public reaction to both decisions and the response of Protestant leaders to form Protestants and Other Americans United for Separation of Church and State (POAU). It also discusses the impact of the initial writings by Paul Blanshard and the Catholic reaction to them.

Conclusion

The conclusion provides a brief overview of the Supreme Court’s church–state decisions from 1975 to 2000 to demonstrate the book’s thesis that the transition away from separationism began in the late 1960s. It documents not only the increase in non-separationist holdings, but also a decline in language invoking the importance of separationism as a constitutional principle. It reasserts that separationism’s decline was due chiefly to the indeterminacy of the concept. The justices could never agree on the meaning of church–state separation, or on how it related to shifting cultural forces. This indeterminacy led to its downfall in law and policy but allowed it to continue as a protean concept that people could still embrace.

The 1950s: Part One

This chapter examines the Protestant–Catholic tensions of the early 1950s and the meteoric rise of Protestants and Other Americans United for Separation of Church and State (POAU) and its early litigation involving “captive schools.” It examines early criticism of POAU for its alleged anti-Catholicism. It then discusses President Truman’s unsuccessful attempt to appoint an ambassador to the Vatican, which met a groundswell of opposition among Protestants. The chapter then segues to consider the two leading church–state cases heard by the Supreme Court: the first involving a reconsideration of its released-time holding, and the second involving a sensational movie censorship controversy (“The Miracle case”).

Setting the Stage

This chapter examines the legal controversies and cases that provided the background for the modern Court’s early church–state cases. It pays particular attention to the activities and litigation involving Jehovah’s Witnesses—canvassing and flag-salute controversies—and how those cases impacted the justices’ thinking about church and state. Although representing distinct constitutional issues, the Witnesses’ free exercise and free speech claims laid the groundwork for the Court’s Establishment Clause decisions. The chapter then examines Protestant–Catholic relations during the war years and the church–state controversies that arose in its immediate aftermath. These events set the stage for the Court’s holdings in Everson and McCollum.